Digital BW, The Print

Peter,

>If one had a reasonable spectrophotometer, how difficult would it be 
>to make a profile that could be used in Photoshop to soft-proof not 
>just the density, but also the hue of the ink/paper combination?

>Is this a service someone is willing to provide for a fee?

I have experimented with small files that have curves layers on them that
can do for those with PS Elements all that we can do with curves.  This
includes not only control of the inks for printing, but also density and hue
control of the image on the monitor.

As an example, the file that has the matte paper printing curves on it for
the 2000P and FS inksets can be downloaded from
http://home1.gte.net/res09aij/2000P-FS-curves.htm.  This is one of the pages
accessible from my general printing info index at
http://home1.gte.net/res09aij/index.htm. 


I have not posted the soft proofing files because I'm not sure previewing
the hue of either an FS inkset print or even a variable tone inkset print is
worth the effort, including the problems that would result from people not
removing or deactivating the layer before printing.

So, I'm currently inclined to post only the UT printer-control types of
layers files to support PS Elements (and other) users with respect to at
least some of the UT inksets I've worked on.  Since the 1280 currently comes
with Elements v. 2.0, all recent 1280 purchasers will be able to use the
curves-controlled inksets with no further outlay of cash or work. So, a
small file for 1280 users will probably be made at some point. 

I'm probably going to wait and see how that goes before I get into any more.
However, in my experiments, all the necessary B&W soft proofing can be done
with simple curves that are put onto layers, and these layers can be put
onto small *.psd or *.tif files that people just download.  For the monitor,
there would be a variety of density adjustment curves layers that people
would just try until they found one that worked.  They could then delete the
others.  The correct density layer(s) might also be combined with hue/color
layers for RGB files.

At any rate, all of this can be just a drag and drop procedure to adjust a
file for viewing, even for those who simply have the free Elements that ship
with 1280s.  (I wonder what other Epson printers ship with Elements.)  

I think the soft proofing curves can be made visually without any
instruments.  In fact, I see very little return to investment for individual
B&W printers for any of the profiling or color calibration software.  The
programs and costs are, in my view, a color printer's problem that B&W
printers just don't need.  They also just don't work as well as a soft proof
that is done with a custom dot gain curve (more complex) or a simple image
adjustment curve or layer -- as long as the user remembers to remove it
before printing.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com